2467 replies to this topic

[Solenoqueen]

How do you guys catch so much?

[AntsCalifornia]

Well I went black lighting in Trabuco Canyon last night with StopSpazzing, and we found Solenopsis molesta, S. xyloni, Temnothorax sp. and Crematogaster cf. mutans.

 

So it looks like with the Pogonomyrmex californicus, and Liometopum occidentale others have reported finding, I can't help but notice my prediction was 100% correct.   Did anyone find anything else?

I found rover ant queens 

[StopSpazzing]

How do you guys catch so much?

Honestly, you need to know where they fly based on previous records (use Drews ant map), weather conditions need to be good, AND have some luck. I often hover in chat and people often post stuff about when things fly there first, giving you time to go. But most flights will NOT happen in your backyard. You need to be willing to drive.

 

 

 

Well I went black lighting in Trabuco Canyon last night with StopSpazzing, and we found Solenopsis molesta, S. xyloni, Temnothorax sp. and Crematogaster cf. mutans.

 

So it looks like with the Pogonomyrmex californicus, and Liometopum occidentale others have reported finding, I can't help but notice my prediction was 100% correct.   Did anyone find anything else?

I found rover ant queens 

 

Who doesn't? 

Edited by StopSpazzing, June 6 2018 - 9:40 PM.

[Enderz]

Who doesn't? 

 

Me spazz, unless I'm missing something

[StopSpazzing]

 

Who doesn't? 

 

Me spazz, unless I'm missing something

 

If you have argentines, you have rover ants. They are so small that they are often missed.

[Enderz]

 

 

Who doesn't? 

 

Me spazz, unless I'm missing something

 

If you have argentines, you have rover ants. They are so small that they are often missed.

 

Probably, I must mistake the workers for monomorium sometimes as I don't inspect them much.

[dspdrew]

I still don't know if they are Pogonomyrmex californicus or P. maricopa. The last time i found P. maricopa, they were in Blythe, along the Colorado River where the habitat is very similar - a sort-of desert marsh, all wet and muddy. They flew in September though, and this is May, very close to when P. californicus flies. I tried IDing them, but I still don't know for sure. P. californicus and P. maricopa are very difficult to tell apart. Does anyone know if P. californicus in this part of the Mojave Desert would be all red, or with just a small black stripe on the gaster vs. the entire gaster black?

 

 

 

 

They certainly move like P. maricopa or the desert bicolor variety of P. californicus. Another weird thing about these is that they seem to range in size a lot. The first few I found were so small I thought they were P. magnacanthus, but then I noticed the eyes were not large. The much smaller queens also dug nests that looked more like small lumps of fine sand, unlike what I normally see from Pogonomyrmex. Basically I'm pretty confused by these queens. I'm not even sure they're all the same species. Having no spines or large eyes, I doubt they can be anything other than the two I suspect they might be.

 

Most of the queens were in founding chambers found in the sandy areas next to the bushes. Some were still digging and some even running around.

 

 

@ gcsnelling

 

Not sure if you saw this post, but do you think these are more likely to be P. californicus, or P. maricopa in this area?

[gcsnelling]

I agree, very hard to tell. I think color is a bad option as it is somewhat variable, although I have never seen P. maricopa with any black on the gaster

[dspdrew]

While everybody in the country is suffering through crazy heatwaves, it not all that warm here in SoCal at all. But, next weekend we should finally be getting a real heatwave. Right now it's looking like Trabuco Canyon should hit 103 F, leaving it around 89 when it gets dark. I will be there with my black light for sure. I'm also planning on running the light in the morning too just before it gets light. It should be around 77 at that time, so hopefully I'll get some Pheidole species I don't usually find, like I did last year.

 

In addition to the heatwave, it looks like the monsoon moisture should be showing up in the desert right around the 7th. This means isolated thunderstorms and mating flights.

 

 

 

Better start making plans now.

[AntsCalifornia]

Is it too early for M. mexicanus, navajo, or mimicus? 

[dspdrew]

Is it too early for M. mexicanus, navajo, or mimicus? 

 

Absolutely not. If any spots where they are found get enough rain, they will probably fly. M. navajo I have noticed fly with slightly less rain than M. mexicanus. I think it's all a matter of how deep the water soaks into the ground.

[soulsynapse]

Stuffs flying in riverside, it's been overcast for the last half of the day in east county

 

edit, pic: 

 

brachymyrmex depilis?

Edited by soulsynapse, July 6 2018 - 11:12 PM.

[Enderz]

Me, drew, Zeiss, and Spazz all just went down to trabuco canyon because of the huge heat wave. We found Solenopsis xyloni, some Forelius queens, a few alates of Liometopum occidentale, various camponotus, Camponotus ocreatus, parasitic Crematogaster species., and a whole bunch of Pheidole queens (zeiss only got 2 pity queens ). It was a super hot night and overall successful. Too bad nurbs missed it .

[SirAnticus]

Man I was hoping to get some C. ocreatus. Any chance I'll find some sunday if I flip rocks.

[soulsynapse]

pics of c. ocreatus queens? been trying for them pretty consistently for a while now

 

edit: Can someone link the trail head you guys were at? Even if I find nothing I want to head out tomorrow.

Edited by soulsynapse, July 7 2018 - 12:28 AM.

[Enderz]

pics of c. ocreatus queens? been trying for them pretty consistently for a while now

 

edit: Can someone link the trail head you guys were at? Even if I find nothing I want to head out tomorrow.

I'll try for pics tomorrow, I'm kind of tired right now and finally got all of the ants tubed up. We were all pretty excited about seeing ocreatus, drew smiled finally. Also, I only have 1 queen, others have more.

 

The trail was https://www.google.c...!4d-117.5489151

 

Park on the south side of the loop, that is where we were. (the way to get in is a dirt road, lot of rocks and dust. Lots of holes as well.) We were looking for pheidole/crematogaster/others down by the rocky riverbank area. Now if walk the trail up, you can see plenty of camponotus nests and that is where we found the queens, on that trail. Both sides seem to yield results, and we found many scorpions as well . You shouldn't need to go too far to find stuff. Good Luck!

Edit:

It looks like a nice chance of rain in that location Tuesday, don't know if that means the C. fragilis will fly (spazz found a lone alate), but just a heads up .

Edited by EnderzATwar411, July 7 2018 - 3:05 AM.

[Zeiss]

Me, drew, Zeiss, and Spazz all just went down to trabuco canyon because of the huge heat wave. We found Solenopsis xyloni, some Forelius queens, a few alates of Liometopum occidentale, various camponotus, Camponotus ocreatus, parasitic Crematogaster species., and a whole bunch of Pheidole queens (zeiss only got 2 pity queens ). It was a super hot night and overall successful. Too bad nurbs missed it .

Nurbs actually made it like an hourish after you guys all left.  I ended up getting two more Pheidole vistana/desertorum queens.  

pics of c. ocreatus queens? been trying for them pretty consistently for a while now

 

edit: Can someone link the trail head you guys were at? Even if I find nothing I want to head out tomorrow.

It was down Trabuco Creek Rd, the farthest north one.  And we aren't positive they are Camponotus ocreatus, but they're pretty damn large.  Drew says they are and Nurbs says they're just large Camponotus vicinus.  

[nurbs]

 

Me, drew, Zeiss, and Spazz all just went down to trabuco canyon because of the huge heat wave. We found Solenopsis xyloni, some Forelius queens, a few alates of Liometopum occidentale, various camponotus, Camponotus ocreatus, parasitic Crematogaster species., and a whole bunch of Pheidole queens (zeiss only got 2 pity queens ). It was a super hot night and overall successful. Too bad nurbs missed it .

Nurbs actually made it like an hourish after you guys all left.  I ended up getting two more Pheidole vistana/desertorum queens.  

pics of c. ocreatus queens? been trying for them pretty consistently for a while now

 

edit: Can someone link the trail head you guys were at? Even if I find nothing I want to head out tomorrow.

It was down Trabuco Creek Rd, the farthest north one.  And we aren't positive they are Camponotus ocreatus, but they're pretty damn large.  Drew says they are and Nurbs says they're just large Camponotus vicinus.  

 

 

Met up with them at Trabuco later in the night after hitting up the mountains and compared them to the winged C. vicinus I found that night in the mountains.

 

This is all a guess, but what they are not are C. ocreatus queens. The major workers are large, yes, but the queens look like C. vicinus. C. ocreatus queens have large wide heads, the heads of these "Ocreatus" look like C. vicinus - thin and narrow. They aren't any larger than your usual Camponotus queens, and certainly not as bulky and built like a healthy C. quercicola queen.

 

They just seem to be some variant of vicinus or undescribed Camponotus sp, which is still just as interesting. But these aren't C. ocreatus. We should stop calling them that.

 

The C. vicinus I found that night in the mountains also were winged, and appear to be kicked out of their nest and were leftovers from a previous flight.

 

Found a ton of polygynous Pogonomyrmex subnitidus in the mountains, as well as the usual suspects such as S. xyloni and L. occidentale. More later, I'll post mating info.

[Enderz]

What else should we call these ants then? Wow, looks like you got a lot of stuff

[nurbs]

What else should we call these ants then? Wow, looks like you got a lot of stuff

 

Undescribed Camponotus? 

 

Camponotus cf. vicinus?